Pristina's Thaci: No chance of Kosovo partition

NEWS 31.07.201815:01
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Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaci said on Tuesday that there was no chance that Pristina’s representatives would be forced to discuss the division of their country, the Beta news agency reported.

He added that there had been some fake news about the partition of Kosovo and that they were upsetting.

“As the country’s president I guarantee that there was no force which could make us discuss the division of Kosovo,” Thaci told reporters in Pristina at a news conference about the finalisation of the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations.

The partition of once Serbia’s southern province has never been on the table officially but has lately been mentioned often, mostly from sources in Belgrade or close to it.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic did not reject the idea and said that „they (the Western countries) won’t allow it.“

The division is said to include the swap of parts of Serbia’s southern territories, mostly populated by ethnic Albanians, for the northern chink of Kosovo with the Serb majority.

Thaci reiterated on Tuesday that the dialogue would end in the mutual recognition and the possibility for Kosovo to become a UN member state.

“We will work on a final agreement that will be following the constitution and laws,” Thaci said.

The European Union-facilitated talks between Belgrade and Pristina at the highest level including Thaci and Vucic should continue in September in Brussels.

Kosovo’s President has worked on achieving the unity among Pristina’s political parties and thanked them and the civil society organisations who are for the continuation of the final phase of the dialogue, adding he is happy with the parliament’s debate on the issue as well, and that “we are getting closer to the needed and necessary consensus.”

Vucic said that the people in Serbia would have a final word, i.e., that any solution would be checked on in a popular vote.

He has faced a bitter opposition by some political parties which are against any talks with Belgrade.